North Bay Business Journal

Listen to audio recordings from and read presentations at Wine Industry Conference 2011, which was held in Santa Rosa on April 28.

Pete Scott of The Vincraft Group, which acquired Gary Farrell Winery from Ascentia Wine Estates recently, was part of a power player–packed mergers and acquisitions panel.

Other M&A panel members were Peter Byck of Winery Exchange, Bill Foley of Foley Family Wines, Dan Leese of V2 Wine Group and Stewart Resnick, owner and chairman of Roll Global that includes and Justin Winery and Vineyards.

The conference also includes a direct sales and social media panel, consisting of Ron Denner of Denner Vineyards, Larry Dutra of Adams Wine Group, Bill Leigon of Hahn Family Wines and Lisa Mattson of Jordan Vineyard & Winery.

Cliff Lede’s Breggo Cellars purchased Savoy Vineyard, a 52-acre pinot noir and chardonnay property in Mendocino County’s Anderson Valley. Fruit for the single-vineyard Breggo brand comes from the property. … Pinot noir producer Kosta Browne is expanding in Sebastopol, moving from one former apple processing plant to another. … In the April 11 issue, the Business Journal asked panelists of the April 28 Wine Industry Conference about trends in mergers and acquisitions and in direct sales and social media. Panelist Bill Foley, founder of Foley Family Wines, now provides his insights. … The Hess Collection in Napa gave a $10,000 grant each to The Land Trust of Napa County and the Napa County Student & Landowner Education and Watershed Stewardship program (SLEWS). … The Napa Valley Vintners trade group is set to arrive in mainland China with 40 vintners from the county on a weeklong trade mission, including stops in Shanghai and Beijing to meet wine trade representatives, media, targeted consumers and political leaders. … Wine People notes

Increased wine mergers and acquisitions activity anticipated this year likely won’t be dominated by troubled-finance sales, according to one of the experts at the Business Journal wine business conference Thursday.

There is a “huge wave” of wine-related mergers and acquisitions coming, according to one lender to the industry. It’s in this environment that the Business Journal asked several significant and diverse players in California wine mergers and acquisitions market about their strategies for building portfolios. They will be part of the Mergers and Acquisitions discussion panel at the Business Journal’s Wine Industry Conference 2011 on April 28.

The Business Journal asked the four members of the Direct Sales and Social Media panel for the upcoming Wine Industry Conference 2011 about trends in sales of wine directly to consumers and use of social media in that endeavor.

The business of making ultrapremium and luxury wine may be reaching a turning point after almost three years of heavy competition for consumer dollars.